Raz Looking for First SRL Win After Recent Successes

Bakersfield, CA – In only his third start in the ARCA Menards Pro Series West, Kole Raz was a winner. Raz has been doing that a lot lately, but he is still looking for his first victory in the Spears SRL Southwest Tour Series. On Saturday, May 18th, Raz hopes to remedy that reality by bringing home $15,000 in the “All-Star Showdown presented by Pinnacle Peak Steakhouse” at Irwindale Speedway. The event will be the season opener for the series, after the first two attempts were interrupted by rain.

The Oswego, OR driver has but three starts in the “West” series but has finished no worse than third. His Super Late Model exploits have found Raz in Victory Lane frequently over the last couple of seasons, but he has yet to score a “touring” series win in either the Spear SRL Southwest Tour or the Northwest Super Late Model Series (NWSLMS). Raz is coming off a win in the “Chilly Willy 150” at Tucson Speedway (AZ) in January. In 2023, he won the “Summer Showdown 150” and the Mark Galloway Shootout” at Evergreen Speedway (WA). Also in 2023, he scored a $20,000 win in the “Wenatchee 200” at the Wenatchee Valley Super-Oval (WA). He kicked off his winning ways with a victory in the “South Sound 200” at South Sound Speedway (WA) in 2022.

The 2021 Kulwicki Driver Development Program finalist has been so close to victory many times, with both tours. Raz dominated the 2023 season opening “All-Star Showdown 200”, leading the first 100 laps. But the second half of the race found Raz falling back, as the retainer clip on the right rear cup broke. He was second at Tucson Speedway (AZ) in the “Wild West Shootout 127” for the SRL, as well as at Colorado National Speedway (CO) in the “Salted Metals Architectural Metals 150”. He was second in the “Leonard Evans Memorial 150” at the Wenatchee Valley Super-Oval, for the NWSLMS, and just finished third in the “Apple Cup 125” at Tri-City Raceway RMEC (WA), recovering from a late race incident battling for the lead.

He now hopes to take that asterisk off his ledger, as he heads to Irwindale for one of the marquee events on the West Coast.

“The All-Star Showdown has been an event our team always has circled on the calendar, and we have always been able to bring a fast car to it, although we haven’t been able to produce the results for it yet”, Raz stated. “Irwindale Speedway and the Spears SRL Southwest Tour always put on a strong/professional event, for not only the teams, but a great group of fans in the SoCal area. It would be amazing to be able to pick up our first SRL win after all these years. But we know any given weekend with this group is tough. That’s what I love most about traveling all this way, is to compete against a great group of teams and drivers.

Winning is not an easy task in the SRL, and it takes a lot of support to get to Victory Lane. The 2021 Rookie-of-the-Year runner-up is thankful for those who have stepped up and made this event a possibility for the team.

“A lot of our partners are within the Southern California area, so I’m incredibly excited to get down there and kick off an amazing activation plan with Apache Rental Group”, Raz began. “Tim Sweet has been instrumental in our program over the last year, and I’m so thankful to continue building such a strong relationship with him and his team. A big thank you goes out to The Master Wrench, Wells Johnson, Elevate Racing Media, Reeves Complete Auto Center, #Destined4Destruction, Port City Racecars, Jefferson Racing, Whisky Ridge, Go Lithium Batteries, Earnest Performance, Brad Peters, and Dustin Ash. Also, I want to send a shoutout to Community Glass, who will be on board with us for the “Wenatchee 200” on June 1st. They are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year in the Wenatchee area.

The “All-Star Showdown” will pay $15,000 to the winner and will open the season for the Spears Southwest Tour. Pinnacle Peak Steakhouse will up the ante with another $1,000 for Fast Time. The Spears Pro Late Models and Spears Modified Series will join the action.

Celebrating its twenty fourth season in 2024, the SPEARS Southwest Tour Series is a regional stock car series competing on paved ovals in the southwestern portion of the U.S. “The SPEARS Southwest Tour Series…Where the Champions Race”.